The present invention relates to apparatus for washing fire hose and particularly to a lightweight, portable apparatus which is of simple and inexpensive construction.
Fire hose which is of a type which is flat when not inflated, becomes dirty as it lies upon the ground or in pools of muddy water which typically is associated with its use. Further, chemicals which are often used to fight modern fires must be rinsed off the hose as they tend to deteriorate the hose fabric.
Many prior art attempts have been made to devise hose washing or cleaning apparatus for this purpose, however, over the last several decades these attempts have been directed to more complex and relatively very expensive apparatus. Some of these are useful, however, the size and cost are prohibitive for the many small fire departments in small communities which simply cannot afford such expensive equipment.
For example, relatively complex and expensive apparatus for fire hose cleaning are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,320,173; 2909,794; 4,280,672 and 4,206,526.
Since the more elaborate and expensive devices cannot be afforded by small community fire departments, totally manual efforts involving manual brushing of the hose is employed. The time, effort and relative inefficiency of total manual cleaning tends to lead to less appropriate upkeep of such fire hose and to deterioration and less useful life span of the hose. Therefor there has existed a long standing need for an efficient, yet low cost, apparatus which will competently aid the washing of fire hose.
Other very old devices going back many years, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,179,831; 2,784,832 and 764,435 and 619,220 illustrate the prior attempts to provide fire hose cleaning apparatus which has not proved satisfactory to fulfill this need.